We just re-upped our health insurance for the employees of our small company. The price increase was breathtakingly astounding. The increase will be coming right out of the profit sharing. There isn’t really anything we can do.
Our policy is so good that we are forced to pay a one thousand dollar a month tax on it. Thanks.
It took Blue Cross a very long time to get us a quote because of the insane maze of new regulations. Due to this and time constraints, we basically had no choice besides sign up and take the increase, or cut everyone loose to the disastrous healthcare.gov site and give them a stipend of some sort – but we actually like our employees so no dice on that.
Besides, we have employees in two states – Illinois and Wisconsin. Wisconsin deferred to the federal plan, Illinois did a mixture. I am sure that will go very well. So that would create another issue we would need to address – how to stipend who so our employees are treated fairly.
All of our employees received a card from Blue Cross saying that their current plan will expire. And this is true. The new plan is similar, but not exact.
We have absolutely no idea what will happen next year, since our Blue Cross person said that the plan that we just signed up on will not be available when that rolls around.
Our employees are furious at the Obama administration for this debacle. Here’s hoping this will change some votes.
My daughter went and got her own insurance plan, through Humana – and it’s good for the next year. She pays $87 a month for Humana’s Option A. Option B is the Obamacare-compliant version, and it will cost her $230 a month. We’re kind of hoping the whole thing will implode in the next year.
“We’re kind of hoping the whole thing will implode in the next year.” So are we. But I don’t know if everyone can “start over” at this point.
Pray that implode doesn’t mean substitute single payer national system.
Mike
Since Obama is a lame duck lets hope those votes equate this to Congress.
Tom Holsinger dropped this in my ‘Sebilis as Baghdad Bob’ post:
Here is the _Forbes_ article by Avik Roy on the coming destruction of existing group health plans:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/10/31/obama-officials-in-2010-93-million-americans-will-be-unable-to-keep-their-health-plans-under-obamacare/
“Obama Officials In 2010: 93 Million Americans Will Be Unable To Keep Their Health Plans Under Obamacare
”¦ The Departments’ mid-range estimate is that 66 percent of small employer plans and 45 percent of large employer plans will relinquish their grandfather status by the end of 2013,” wrote the administration on page 34,552 of the Register. All in all, more than half of employer-sponsored plans will lose their “grandfather status” and get canceled. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 156 million Americans””more than half the population””was covered by employer-sponsored insurance in 2013.
Another 25 million people, according to the CBO, have “nongroup and other” forms of insurance; that is to say, they participate in the market for individually-purchased insurance. In this market, the administration projected that “40 to 67 percent” of individually-purchased plans would lose their Obamacare-sanctioned “grandfather status” and get canceled, solely due to the fact that there is a high turnover of participants and insurance arrangements in this market. (Plans purchased after March 23, 2010 do not benefit from the “grandfather” clause.) The real turnover rate would be higher, because plans can lose their grandfather status for a number of other reasons.
How many people are exposed to these problems? 60 percent of Americans have private-sector health insurance””precisely the number that Jay Carney dismissed. As to the number of people facing cancellations, 51 percent of the employer-based market plus 53.5 percent of the non-group market (the middle of the administration’s range) amounts to 93 million Americans ”¦”
So somehow, the government forcing 93 million (probably a minimum) off their plans is financially and morally more acceptable than the current system, because 50 million (many who already qualified for Medicaid) did not have or buy insurance to reach an end goal of 30 million projected to still not have insurance in 10 years (One estimate I heard). Something not getting a lot of exposure is the cuts in Medicare to help the CBO score this, and is already exacting a price.
If people were as static and 2 dimensional as a sheet of paper, it might work. Even if it was intended to fail (which is easier than planning to succeed), the way it fails and the complications from that are not predictable. It could be people want single payer, which I think is highly probable. You would think if a political class would collude to lie about what they knew would had a high probability of happening, people wouldn’t trust them again, but I think the desire to pay as little as possible will be a big temptation. Any more promises should be actually backed by something, like jail time for bait and switch. This law is proving to be sold fraudulently both by overselling the benefits and demonizing those in opposition that had legitimate concerns as to the scope and size of this law.
But the wealthy and connected will have the same care opportunities that they do today. Obama will have a retirement including secret service, medical care, be golfing everyday, giving million dollar speeches, writing a memoir and popping his mug up on tv weekly to criticize and armchair quarterback the presidency for decades to come. Democrats don’t know how to go away and respect the next office holders.
We lost our grandfathered plan from BCBS of Michigan. We paid $440 per month with 2,000 deductible each, 80% coverage. The new will be 432 with 7500 each deductible, 70% coverage. It is clearly not better for us (married couple).
In 2010 my then 28 yo daughter ruptured a disk (apparently due to Spondylolysis). Her pain was so severe that she had to quit work. She was on COBRA for 18 months, but had to buy an individual plan to replace that. Since she lived in NYC, it cost a mere $1,8000/mo. She has had 4 operations and seems to be on the road to recovery, but she is not yet able to go back to work.
Blue Cross wants to put her on the policy that they sell through the Exchange (fortunately she would not have to apply for it). But, none of her doctors will accept the insurance. She rightly thinks that continuity of care is important.
I am confident that we will figure something out, but, damnation, they have made a royal mess out of things.
Like Uncle Joe said:
“One family without health insurance is a tragedy. 50 million without insurance is just a statistic.”
My family’s insurance went from $350 to $2800 per month.
I called one of my senators who voted for this law and told her answering machine “Thanks for Obamacare. I won’t forget this.”
But she and her answering machine have already quite forgot you.
A Senator? Really? Dude.
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Here’s hoping that it will change some minds about the Vote. We don’t have one, it was illusory we ever did, unless you voted in the 1930s.
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If you notice, the Tea Party [self insured small business, independently employed] just lost it’s HealthCare except at ruinous cost.
As the Tea Party Terrorist Cadre profile is “Mom”, the Cadre will be explaining to you shortly that ye are now supplicants. If she hasn’t already.
Tens of millions, 93 million, 50 million losing HealthCare or being bankrupted to keep it destroys private insurance, what they openly admitted was the goal all along. They never denied it, they trumpted it.
They.Won. This part is over.
Now Learn.
If ye will be sheep nothing will save you.
If ye would be men there is risk.
This is not the beginning but a mere increase of the cost of cowardice, it’s ruinously expensive to shirk the risks of men. Ruined you’ll be.
This is only the first adjustable payment. Wait.
I do not see any viable exit from this mess. By the time Teh Won is out of office, unless by some miracle the Senate becomes veto-proof, almost all health care insurance providers will be out of business.
United Healthcare cancelled all individual coverage in CA. Per words on the tube, they feared that the mix of insured would be the overly sick and would prove to be a money pit{my words} because of CA rules. Additionally, the Covered CA required that the participating companies had to cancel current policies, and issue new “compliant” policies. Grandfather? He died.
So, at the short end, these companies will not live for a year or so until they can begin to issue policies people are happy with. They will be out of business, and there will be no alternative.
Once the private insurance companies are gone, that’s it. Over. Done. Finito. No alternative save FedGov.
Boy, I can hardly wait. Not.
tom
I think that’s too pessimistic. There’s no reason why insurance companies couldn’t come back into the individual-health market if the regulatory environment were less burdensome and more stable.
Might be a while, however.
My daughter was able to identify an “off-exchange” being sold by Aetna, that her Doctors would accept. She has sent in an application.
Every time a politician lies and gets elected because of that lie, Democracy is hurt. When lying becomes the normal way politicians become elected – Democracy dies. Tyranny rises from Democracy’a ashes.
Grey Eagle, have you noticed the practice of the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in that regard?
I have come to believe that lying from the Oval Office is common, with truth being relatively unknown, even when it doesn’t make a difference.
Flat out prevarication allowed the ACA to pass into law, and re-election of President Obama. The many lies about Benghazi, Fast & Furious and a host of other topics have almost brought things to the level of comedy, except for the wailing and gnashing of teeth. People have died because of this, and it should be brought to account. IMO.
tom